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"419" Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam

The so-called "419" scam is a type of fraud dominated by criminals from Nigeria and other countries in Africa. Victims of the scam are promised a large amount of money, such as a lottery prize, inheritance, money sitting in some bank account, etc.

Victims never receive this non-existent fortune but are tricked into sending their money to the criminals, who remain anonymous. They hide their real identity and location by using fake names and fake postal addresses as well as communicating via anonymous free email accounts and mobile phones.

Keep in mind that scammers DO NOT use their real names when defrauding people.
The criminals either abuse names of real people or companies or invent names or addresses.
Any real people or companies mentioned below have NO CONNECTION to the scammers!

Read more about such scams here or in our 419 FAQ. Use the Scam-O-Matic to verify suspect emails.

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Some comments by the Scam-O-Matic about the following email:

Fraud email example:

From: "Mr Mark Lee" <marklee00a@yahoo.com>
Date: Sat, 3 Jul 2010 22:56:45 +0800
Subject: GREETINGS FROM CHINA.

ATTN: Sir /Madam,
Greetings to you, My name is Mr. Mark Lee, the present Director, Audit and Accounting Unit Foreign Remittance Dept., HSBC in China. I used to be the head of Accounts Department in my bank's head office, but last December I was promoted to the position of a Manager in Shanghai where I discoverd an account that has not been operated for the past 10 years.
Investigations revealed that this account belongs to one Late Mr. Ziya Bazhayev a Russian big time Oil dealer, who unfortunately lost his life in the Yak-40 jetliner on March 9, 2000.
I cannot directly take out this money without the help of a foreigner and that is why I am contacting you for an assistance to claim the funds and share it with me.There is practically no risk involved, the transaction will be executed under a legitimate arrangement that will protect you from any breach of law.
Regards,
Mr. Mark Lee.

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